(Author's Note: Obscenely short. Busy day. 'Nuff said.)

Parties were fine. Jack loved to watch parties. He loved to play pranks on the guests, and if it was an outdoor party, a snowball fight was a must. But unfortunately, this was a royal shindig, and knew if he stirred anything obvious up, not only would it be an inappropriate time, but poor Elsa would think it was her fault. The inappropriate thing wasn't what bothered him—usually he elected to ignore that particular reason. It was the latter that stayed his hand. No frost games for him. Still, the food was calling his name and the dancing was lively, so he didn't think the night a total loss.

"Presenting…Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" announced the chamberlain, gesturing with a sweep of his arm.

The partygoers bowed. Elsa strode onto the dais, smiling a much calmer and genuine smile than she had been before. She seemed almost relaxed, but Jack knew at a glance that her faith was only in her gloves. She didn't look any different than she had in the afternoon, when the ceremony had taken place, and her little golden crown glinted in the light from the chandelier.

"Princess Anna of Arendelle!" added Geoffrey, nodding to the redhead as she rushed into the room, late again.

The chamberlain quickly directed Anna to the spot right next to her sister, and Anna uncomfortably began a quiet stream of babble.

"Oh—here? Are you sure, 'cuz, I don't think I'm s'posed to—oh. Okay."

The audience applauded and started to mingle. Jack sat in the chair that was probably meant for Elsa, behind the two bluebloods, elbow on the armrest and chin in his fist, one leg drawn up onto the seat's cushion. Anna hadn't been this close to Elsa in twelve years.

Jack watched the younger tuck a strand of hair behind her ear—except it didn't need tucking. Elsa seemed content to glance about the room, though she never looked over her shoulder at the freeze-dried boy lounging in her throne. He fought bitterness and decided to at least make a frost pattern on the chair. It was thin as spider's silk; nobody would notice it. He was itching to cause some real commotion.

Finally, Elsa turned and said quietly, kindly, "Hi."

The warmth in her tone, the cheer, surprised Jack. Was she finally getting it together? Had she decided to put the past away? Not to live in fear? …Not in the past hour, she hadn't. There was no way. He sat up straighter. She did seem more comfortable, though. Comfortable enough to actually give Anna the time of day. He almost smiled at the thought. But he knew her too well. Something was gonna give. He hoped it wouldn't, but Elsa's fear for her sister and fear of herself always seemed to whisper something to her, something Jack could never hear. It made her close the door.

Anna seemed equally startled, but pleasantly so. "H-Hi…hi me?"

Elsa nodded.

"Oh! Um…hi?"

Elsa's head dipped, as if looking at the ground for a moment. Then she inclined it toward her little sister again. "You look beautiful." She said it as if it were obvious, something Anna should've known already.

Jack could feel Anna's grin. "Thank you! You look beautifuller." She stiffened. "I-I mean, not fuller, you don't look fuller, just…more beautiful—"

Elsa chortled. "Thank you."

She turned back to watch her subjects, and Jack saw her shoulders slouch, her gown swirl a little. She was sharply aware of every detail in the room, almost like…like she was excited to be there. He sat forward, raising an eyebrow.

"So. This is what a party looks like." Elsa cut another glance toward her sister, and Jack saw her smile. As soon as she angled her head forward again, he decided to move to the steps of the dais, where he could sit and get a better view of that smile. He wanted to see it again, for as long as it stayed there.

As he took his seat, Anna tapped her fist against her side, thinking. "It's warmer than I thought," she blurted.

"That's it?" Jack knew she must have more to say about it than that. He'd seen her bouncing around the palace that morning. She was way more euphoric than she was letting on. She seemed sort of stony and formal around Elsa, and Jack knew layers of disappointed years were straightening her.

Elsa nodded. "And what is that amazing smell?"

Jack took a deep whiff the same time the heirs did. Something sweet and thick and his, whenever he got the chance to locate the dessert table.

"Chocolate!" the girls giggled.

Jack rested his arm on his knee. "I call dibs!"

He was back in a moment with a krumkake dipped in fudge. It was delicious, and he made sure he cooled it down, inside and out, before eating it. Didn't need another Peppermint Delight incident. Three years and the scent of tea coming from the kitchens still made him want to curl up and die.

Geoffrey approached, a short balding man with a mustache Jack really wanted to touch at his side. "Your Majesty," boomed the chamberlain, "the Duke of Weaseltown."

"Weselton!" corrected the man sharply. He offered a patronizing smile to Elsa. "The Duke of Weselton, Your Majesty." He took a few steps forward. "As your closest partner in trade, it seems only fitting that I offer you the first dance!"

He proceeded to show off lots of complicated and both necessary and unnecessary dance moves—unnecessary to the situation, necessary to Jack's health. The winter spirit couldn't hold in loud laughter at the sight of the man's toupee falling halfway off as he bowed low to the Queen.

Elsa and Anna snickered too, Anna covering her mouth with her hand and Elsa letting out a faint, tiniest of snorts, almost doubling over. She'd snorted like that once when she was 15, and Jack had accidentally tripped on his flight out the window, foot getting caught on the sill. He'd given her the hardest time for it, but she got payback after he accidentally dubbed it cutealoud. Never let him hear the end of it. Jack smirked at the memory. It still sounded exactly the same.

"Uh, thank you," Elsa began, the mirth still in her voice. "Only I don't dance."

Jack stood up carelessly. "Oh, I don't know about that." She was an incredible dancer; he'd seen it. He'd been her partner. But then again, who wanted to dance with the mustachioed menace standing before them? He was wearing heels.

"But my sister does." Elsa gestured to Anna.

Jack grinned from ear to ear. "Smooth!"

The duke grabbed Anna's arm. "Well! Lucky you!"

"Ohoho, I don't think so—" But Anna was already being yanked onto the dance floor.

"If you swoon, let me know, I'll catch you!" the duke told her, and Anna reached back toward Elsa, shooting her a help me glance from the crowd.

Elsa waved, smiling. "Sorry."

Jack slung his staff over his shoulder, walking along the steps. "You kidding? That was great."

By now the duke started pulling some very strange motions around Anna, who only moved her hips a little, as the toupee-wearer didn't give her much room for anything else.

"Like a chicken with the face of a monkey—I fly!" The Duke crowed.

Jack glanced at Elsa with knit eyebrows. "I'm disturbed."

Elsa held a hand primly over her mouth as she giggled at Anna's uncomfortable expression. A moment later a couple was presented to her, probably somebody important—they were wearing crowns. Both had chocolate-brown hair, and if Jack didn't know any better, the woman was pregnant.

"Your Majesty," began the chamberlain as he introduced them, "the King and Queen of Corona."

The Queen curtsied and Elsa returned it, while the King gave a low bow.

"Queen Elsa," greeted the woman. "The ceremony was lovely. I'm sure you'll make a wonderful ruler."

Elsa smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Thank you." She glanced at the Queen's belly; she was starting to show. "And thank you for making the journey in your condition."

As the Queen dipped her head, chuckling, Jack almost rolled his eyes. Elsa was being too formal. That wasn't her real voice. He tried to ignore his agitation by retrieving another krumkake from the dessert table. When he returned, the Corona people were still talking with his friend. He could hear Anna wincing as the Duke stepped on her feet at every turn.

"Our physician says it's to be a girl," the King was saying. "But we can't be certain yet."

"Well, congratulations to both of you," Elsa finished.

They curtsied and bowed and all that royal stuff one more time, and the couple was led away. Elsa watched Anna wrapping up her dance with the Duke of Weselton, and now that no one was approaching her, Jack saw the Elsa he was used to flicker across her countenance. He realized she was just as nervous and out of it as she had always been. She was choosing to put it aside for one night only.

Jack wished she'd been able to put it aside all along. If she'd practiced controlling her fear instead of controlling her powers, she might have lived a bit differently up till today. Might still see me, too, he added to himself. As a test, he attempted to tap the back of her heel with his foot. His toes passed through her shoe and he scowled. However good a mood she may look to be in, nothing had changed yet.

Anna was coming back to the dance, wincing with every step.

Elsa greeted her with a chuckle. "Well, he was spritely!"

Jack grunted. "Spritely?" She sounded like an old woman.

Anna giggled back, adjusting a shoe. "Especially for a man in heels. Ow."

"Are you okay?"

Anna grinned, and Jack saw absolute, fizzing delight glimmer in the corners of the smile. If Elsa was winter, Anna was summer, and she'd never looked warmer. Happiness was a group of fireflies playing tag at the edge of her, dress swirling, heartbeat accelerated. The empty spot Elsa's absence had created in her sister was quickly starting to fill, without much caution toward the possibility of an overflow that could burst the glass. Anna's response proved it, rushed and oblivious with euphoria that was well deserved and hopelessly overpowering.

"I've never been better. This is so nice!" Anna gazed at her sister earnestly, still beaming. "I wish it could be like this all the time."

Jack nodded at the ground, walking around the two sisters with his staff at the ready, restless. "Hey, I'm for it." He stopped beside Elsa. "What do you say, 'Your Majesty'?"

Elsa was looking at her younger sibling almost fondly. "Me too." Jack knew it was true. He'd seen her longing, however many times she turned Anna away from the closed door. She wanted this life—the parties, the smiles, her sister. No fear. No guilt. Just peace.

Then her eyes drifted to the white in Anna's braid, and Jack braced himself for a farewell to the fireflies.

"But it can't."

Anna, still elevated, still grinning, reached for her sister's arm as if to comfort her, but really it was a plea of her own. "Well, why not, I mean—"

Elsa turned away, panic lighting her big blue eyes as Anna touched her, hands up in a self-defense of sorts. "It just can't!"

She refused to turn around again, and Anna looked at the ground, the old disappointment putting its arm around her like a longstanding mentor. She pulled her hands back in, curled them into fists, and the fireflies and the grin disappeared.

"Excuse me for a minute." Anna's voice was low and dull, and she stepped off the dais, pushing through the crowd, unable to be so close to Elsa and still see a door.

Jack's eyebrows came down. "What was that?" He crouched a little bit, trying to look into Elsa's face, even if he knew she wouldn't see him. It was force of habit. "C'mon, Prin—Elsa. You can't keep doing this if you want—"

He glanced up at the sound of drinks clinking against one another, and a gasp from a certain royal redhead. Hans was gliding across the dance floor with Anna, and they moved just as gracefully as if they'd practiced it.

Jack's frown deepened. Hans was too perfect. No guy was that sweet. Jack was a guy—and he happened to know that guys sucked. Hans was unnaturally attuned to other people's expectations of him, and he fulfilled them without stumbling. Anna wanted someone on her level of awkward and crazy? Hans was as clumsily endearing as they came. Around her. When he'd courted Elsa for a day, he'd been wise and poised and understanding, so much so that it made Jack wretch to remember it. The Southern Prince had danced with Frost's young Queen the very same way. Anna was making an error; Jack was sure of it.

Unfortunately there wasn't much he could do. Actually, he could go sabotage their little picture-perfect beginning. He'd been wanting to use his staff all evening. He could do a lot of things. But one look at Elsa and he was rooted to the spot. He couldn't leave. Anna had walked off, as crushed as ever, and Elsa's smoothness had slipped away. She was broken again. He wasn't moving an inch.